A post-mortem of the life insurance industry's bid for capital during the financial crisis

The 2008-2009 financial crisis was the most serious shock to the U.S. financial system since the Great Depression of the 1930s. A number of large financial institutions failed during the crisis. Many institutions that survived did so only because of extraordinary actions undertaken by company management to maintain solvency, or through the extension of extraordinary support by the federal government and the Federal Reserve System. The impact of the financial crisis on the banking sector has been the subject of extensive research, discussion, and debate. Academic and policy researchers, as well as several government investigations, have examined the measures undertaken by bank managers, banking industry regulators, and governments in response to the crisis (Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission 2011, Stanton 2012). By comparison, relatively few studies have examined the experience of the life insurance sector during the crisis or the response of company managers and insurance regulators during the crisis period. This paper begins to fill that gap.